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ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2018

Kirsten Flipkens

Paris, France

K. FLIPKENS/T. Maria

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. You seem untouchable right now. You played a lot in Nuremberg. You seemed to have a lot of practice and you win the first round.
KIRSTEN FLIPKENS: Yes, it's true. I didn't have the right preparation for here, but I played a lot of matches in Nuremberg.

And it's a luxury issue. I hit the first ball yesterday at 6:00, during half an hour, that's it.

It's very different to be playing here rather than in Nuremberg. In Nuremberg, the court is very hard. Here, it's much slower than in Nuremberg.

At the beginning of the match, was a bit stressed, but I knew I had to give myself a bit of time to enter into the match.

And so I was leading 3-1, Love-30, and she comes back to 3-All, but I knew I had to remain calm and to take the chance I had. But it's been very hard day physically.

Q. We saw you very aggressive. It's the pace of the matches that is helping you, although physically we see that it's difficult?
KIRSTEN FLIPKENS: Yes, it's a bit both. Physically, you're not 100%, you know that you have to make short rallies. And so it's also strategic, and it's the tactic I had before the match to go to the net very often, because I knew that she was not going to let me be on the foreground.

So I was aggressive at the right moment, and I had to make the right decision at the right moment, because it's not easy. She's sometimes playing very high balls. You have to adapt.

And it's been very hard because, at the beginning of the match, I had the feeling that I had already played for five hours. But before the match, I was feeling well. I slept well. I did everything I could to be ready.

And so I'm very happy to finish the match in two sets.

Q. So now are you going to rest?
KIRSTEN FLIPKENS: Absolutely. It's the most important. Today, I won the match on my adrenaline.

Mentally, also the tie-break during the first set, I was in full confidence because I had played a lot of tie-breaks over the last weeks. And I won a lot of tie-breaks, almost all the tie-breaks over the last weeks. So it gave me a lot of confidence.

But at 5-4, the set point, the volley I missed, I was not careful enough. So now my objective is to recover to 100% until Wednesday and to try to be to 100 percent for the next match.

Q. At the end of the match was well-managed mentally. It's hard. You have to lot of balls and you finish at the net, it's really a symbol.
KIRSTEN FLIPKENS: Yes. Certainly, she was giving me no gifts. And so it was 5-3, 15-40. I didn't win the match points. 5-4, I had to serve. I needed five, six additional match points. She also had a break point.

And so it was hard until the last point today.

Q. Let's talk about Wednesday. Kasatkina, she's robust. What do you envisage against her?
KIRSTEN FLIPKENS: She's been playing very well on clay court. I've got nothing to lose.

She's a player -- well, I said a few months ago I think that she's a player who can win Roland Garros one day. I don't say right now, but I'm saying in a few years' time.

She's playing very well. She tries to attack on her forehand. She's very talented. She plays a lot with her slice, drop shots, et cetera. So it will be an interesting match. And it will be totally different from today, because she's playing more aggressively than Maria. And so I have to go and get the point myself.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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